In U.S. Pat. No. 4,110,020, Johnson et al. discloses an electronically controlled microfilm reader. A roll of microfilm has images in separate photographic areas, each area being arranged in a microfiche-type format. A bar code is printed along the edge of the film. The electronic control system of the reader positions the selected image area for viewing by using the bar code. U.S. Pat. No. 4,324,484 to Johnson discloses a microfilm system that records a document on microfilm and records a bar code adjacent the image.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,254,329, Gokey et al. teach a microfiche information retrieval and control system. The microfiche has rows of digital information and addresses for the rows. An optical sensor reads the digital information which is then displayed on a screen. The sensor is aligned with the selected row when the row address is put into the system.
A mass data storage disc for images and data is described in Electronics, Oct. 20, 1982, p. 47. A plastic disc is stamped out from a glass master on which microminiature copies of catalog pages and interspersed bar code digital data are recorded on photoresist in concentric rings. The microphotograph on the disc is apparently read by optically scanning the rings, forming a serial data stream, until the image is re-created, line by line. The image is then magnified and displayed on a screen.
In the field of archival data storage, it is frequently necessary to store audio-visual information. Adding digital information by means of a smaller laser recorder could be of considerable value for stored microfiche and microfilm. Such add-on records have a potential of getting separated from the recorded film during storage. Even if not seperated, the differences in archival storage properties, say between film and paper, pose storage problems.
An object of the invention is to provide a means of recording directly on microfilm or microfiche, both a visual display and data to accompany that image either prior to, during, or after exposure forming such image.